A quantum network requires efficient interfaces over which information can be transferred from matter to light and back. In the current issue of Physical Review Letters, Innsbruck physicists led by Rainer Blatt and Tracy Northup show how this information transfer can be optimized by taking advantage of a collective quantum phenomenon.

In Innsbruck a team of physicists led by Francesca Ferlaino experimentally observed how the anisotropic properties of particles deform the Fermi surface in a quantum gas. The work published in Science provides the basis for future studies on how the geometry of particle interactions may influence the properties of a quantum system.

The importance of artificial intelligence has been increasing in many areas. A team of researchers led by Hans Briegel has now shown that quantum physics may help AI agents to speed up decision making processes that are based on previous experience.

A group of physicists has developed a new technology to transfer magnetic fields to arbitrary long distances, which is comparable to transmitting and routing light in optical fibers. Oriol Romero-Isart and his colleagues have theoretically proposed and already tested this new device experimentally.

Physicists have experimentally encoded one quantum bit (qubit) in entangled states distributed over several particles and for the first time carried out simple computations on it. The 7-qubit quantum register could be used as the main building block for a quantum computer that corrects any type of error.

The integration of digital expert knowledge and automation of risk analyses can greatly improve software test procedures and make cloud computing more secure. This is shown by the latest results of a project of the University of Innsbruck, funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, on the quality assurance of security critical systems which have recently been published.

By combining climate and glacier models, scientists headed by Ben Marzeion from the University of Innsbruck have found unambiguous evidence for anthropogenic glacier mass loss in recent decades. In a paper published in Science, the researchers report that about one quarter of the global glacier mass loss during the period of 1851 to 2010 is attributable to anthropogenic causes.

Quasiparticles can be used to explain physical phenomena in solid bodies even though they are not actual physical particles. Physicists in Innsbruck have now realized quasiparticles in a quantum system and observed quantum mechanical entanglement propagation in a many-body system.

The quantum tunnel effect manifests itself in a multitude of well-known phenomena. Experimental physicists in Innsbruck, Austria, have now directly observed quantum particles transmitting through a whole series of up to five potential barriers under conditions where a single particle could not do the move.

One of the favorites to win the 2014 FIFA World Cup is host Brazil. However, statisticians headed by Achim Zeileis show that the winning margin is considerably higher for Brazil than generally expected.